While concrete or cement is a very popular material for use in floors and construction materials because of its strength, durability and low costs, if the concrete or cement is left unfinished, the concrete floor will inherently produce dust by the constant scuffing it undergoes whether by foot traffic or wheeled traffic and be susceptible to staining due to porosity.
One is thus faced with a dilemma of cleaning a concrete floor with its no gloss utilitarian appearance and with the disadvantage of the inevitable dust that emanates from an unfinished concrete floor or spending considerable money for a protective and decorative covering surface. Part of the expense to obtain a decorative and protective covering is due to the preparation of the concrete floor to accept a covering surface. The preparation often includes aggressive sanding to rough up the concrete surface and to remove any top surface or oil and grease stains to assure proper adhesion of the covering. Aggressive sanding of the concrete surface is a time consuming effort requiring frequent replacement of the sand paper as the sand particles become worn.
Attempts for more aggressive sanding and grinding pads have incorporated hardened particles such as diamonds or silicon carbide. While these pads performed well when new, the particle edges become rounded out through wear and the sanding performance substantially diminishes. Other problems are known that also prevent or limit the application of hardened particles. The present application of a bristle made from today's known higher temperature plastic materials when combined with the aforementioned hard abrasive materials generate much heat when used on a high speed power sander. The generated heat is sufficient to melt the plastic material and fuses the bristles together rendering the bristle pad useless. Previous metal bristles, if fully brazed with particles become too brittle and break off during high speed application.
Pads or wide sanding surfaces encounter problems with wavy or uneven concrete surfaces. They have a tendency to miss the low spots. As a result, to reach the low spots, they must remove the high spots which results in extra sanding and effort.
Normal cleaning of concrete whether by a power wash, power sweep or scrub progressively deteriorates concrete by breaking apart smaller particles from the concrete surface, thereby making the concrete surface more porous and more suspect to further deterioration.
Known cleaning brushes also progressively deteriorate concrete surfaces. The small bristles tend to undesirably add porosity to the concrete surface by poking into the holes that naturally occur in the concrete and breaking away the smaller particles of the concrete. One is then faced with a dilemma of cleaning a concrete floor with the disadvantage of the deterioration of its relatively smooth surface.
One way to achieve a better concrete surface look is to add a densifier such as sodium silicate to the concrete floor which closes the porosity of the floor. One then polishes the concrete with successive finer grit sand paper or polishing pads. This known process provides for a relatively attractive concrete polished surface. However this surface also needs maintenance when it gets dirty.
What is needed is a bristle brush for concrete sanding that has an improved performance profile by incorporating hardened particles along a substantial portion of its length which expose new particle edges as the bristle wears down. What is also needed is a more flexible metal bristle with hardened particles secured thereon with the brazed coating applied only where the diamonds are secured onto the bristle to maintain sufficient flexibility of the metal bristles. What is also needed is a flexible bristle that can prepare high and low spots of a concrete surface by better following the contour of the concrete surface.
What is also needed is a durable cleaning brush for mounting to a cleaning or buffing machine that is suitable for cleaning a polished cement floor. What is also needed is an expedient method to clean a polished concrete floor. What is also needed is a bristle that is durable and with a cross-sectional diameter larger than the cement floor pores in order to hone and smooth a concrete floor rather than degrade it during the cleaning process, the same brush can also be used as a durable abrader. What is also needed is a bristle that has a durable abrasive particle securely affixed to the bristle that is capable of honing a concrete surface.